Hope
Veterinary Surgery

Treating separation anxiety in dogs

By Hope Veterinary Surgery on Thursday, 13th January 2022

Treating separation anxiety can be a long and slow process. But any work to towards a more confident and relaxed dog will be beneficial. Consistency throughout the household will also help. You can only move at the speed your dog is happy at. If you are planning to start a behaviour program for separatin anaxiety, plan a long time peroid where you do not have to leave your pet alone at all, even if you ask family/friends or a neighbour to help during this peroid. 

Changing how you leave home, changing your interactions with your dog and uncoupling departure cues from actual departures will allow you to accustom your dog to planned training departures for teaching him/her how to be home alone without anxiety.

Diminishing anxiety on routine departures

• Leave the dog a toy that has been enhanced with food.
• Try to mask departure with other noises, depart by a different door or wear different clothing.
• Keep departures and returns low key.
• Remain calm and limit interaction prior to leaving, ignore unwanted attention seeking behaviours such as jumping and running around your feet as you get ready.
• Ask you pet to remain in their bed and reward good behaviour.

Changing interactions with your dog

Giving attention

• Attention should be initiated by you and not the dog.
• All attention should be earned by following a simple command.
• Give your dog attention for calm quiet behaviour.
• Decrease and/or stop the dog from following you around the home.
• DO NOT allow the dog on laps or on furniture unless invited and then for brief interactions only.
• DO NOT pay attention to pawing, leaning, whining, jumping up, etc.
• Always have scheduled interactions daily, including play, training, walks, grooming and petting.

Teaching calmness

• Teach your dog to settle and relax on command. Start this whilst being in the room!
• In some circumstance you may need to teach your pet to remian in a room without following you before moving onto leaving the house.
• Use changes in respiration, body posture and facial expressions to assess relaxation in your dog.
• Use a mat or bed as the training location to create a ‘safe’ space.
  1. Calmly take your dog to the chosen place and request a ‘sit’ or ‘down’, or gently place the dog in position.
  2. Give the cue word of your choosing for relaxation but say it only once.
  3. Pick a targeted behaviour to watch; and reward the dog for calmness with a food treat and praise.
  4. Get the dog up; move him/her away; return to the spot; and repeat the exercise.
• Keep session very short (only 5–10 minutes at a time).

Departure training exercises

Uncoupling departure cues from departure

1. Pick up keys, coat or briefcase and walk to the door.
2. Do not exit.
3. Return items to their normal location and sit back down.
4. Do not repeat until the dog is calm.

Behaviours to watch for and avoid during this exercise are:

• Increasing anxiety as the trigger is presented
• Inability to settle in between presentations
• Your dog following and watching you.

Counter-conditioning or response substitution for departure anxiety

1. Ask your dog to ‘sit and stay’ in the vicinity of the usual exit door.
2. Take one or two steps away from him/her.
3. Return to your dog and reward with food and/or praise for remaining still.
4. Gradually increase the time and distance from the dog and toward to the door.
5. As compliance and performance increase, phase out food rewards and only use praise.
6. When the ‘sit–stay’ approaching the door is learnt, open and close the door.
7. Step outside the door and return immediately.

Planned training departures

• Do not begin until departure cues have become uncoupled from departure and no longer cause the dog to respond with anxiety.
• Use a new safety signal, and only use this signal on planned departures, never on routine departures.
• Initial departures must be very short (seconds to minutes).
• Departures must be like usual departures (take keys, briefcase, go in car).
• Just before leaving, use the new signal.
• Return within the designated time; do not stay away longer.
• Ask the pet to sit and only reward calm behaviour
• Only increase the length of absence if no pre-departure anxiety is seen and no excitement or anxiety on return is evident.
• Only repeat planned training departures when the dog is calm; do not do several in a row.
• Initial progress may be very slow before the dog can be left for longer periods of time.
• The dog must be calm both when you depart and when you return for the training departure to be useful.
• If anxiety is evident when practising this routine, contact your veterinary surgeon for further instructions.

The information supplied on this page was kindly provided by the BSAVA (British Small Animal Veterinary Association).

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